At Richmond Free Library – they have several copies of the book in preparation.
Only those who love trees should cut them, writes forester Ethan Tapper.In How to Love a Forest, he asks what it means to live in a time in which ecosystems are in retreat and extinctions rattle the bones of the earth. How do we respond to the harmful legacies of the past? How do we use our species’ incredible power to heal rather than to harm?
Tapper walks us through the fragile and resilient community that is a forest. He introduces us to wolf trees and spring ephemerals, and to the mysterious creatures of the rhizosphere and the necrosphere. He helps us reimagine what forests are and what it means to care for them. This world, Tapper writes, is degraded by people who do too much and by those who do nothing. As the ecosystems that sustain all life struggle, we straddle two worlds: a status quo that treats them as commodities and opposing claims that the only true expression of love for the natural world is to leave it alone.
Proffering a more complex vision, Tapper argues that the actions we must take to protect ecosystems are often counterintuitive, uncomfortable, even heartbreaking. With striking prose, he shows how bittersweet acts–like loving deer and hunting them, loving trees and felling them–can be expressions of compassion. Tapper weaves a new land ethic for the modern world, reminding us that what is simple is rarely true, and what is necessary is rarely easy.
Ethan Tapper (until recently Chittenden County’s Forester) gives a very personal account of how he became a forester, and then purchased and worked to restore the health of a parcel of forested land in Bolton. He learned, and we learn from him, how humans lived for hundreds of years in equilibrium with forests that supported them. Then huge changes occurred when European settlers arrived and unsustainably exploited American forests by clear-cutting for the value of the lumber, and to create pastures for sheep and cattle.
Tapper’s accounts of coming to understand the history of his land and his personal battles to overcome an initial sense of despair is very informative, and ultimately encouraging.
At the same time, he is realistic in describing the challenges faced by the natural world in the face of human relentless exploitation of its resources, and how we should address them.
PREVIOUS CLIMATE BOOK DISCUSSIONS Here
In collaboration with Richmond Climate Action Committee.
Make Big Oil Pay
A campaign coordinated by VPIRG to liberate oil company profits to compensate for the damage caused by burning fossil fuels
Vermont Digger, By Kevin McCallum, April 2, 2024
The Vermont Senate on Tuesday passed a first-of-its-kind bill designed to make big oil companies pay for the damage caused by climate change and the costs of adapting to it. The Climate Superfund Act, S.259, passed by a 26-3 vote, and now heads to the House, where it is expected to enjoy similarly strong support.
Community Project: What Will Suffice – Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis
Collaboration with Radiate Art Space: Exhibit and Book/Catalogue
The Climate Art Catalog is now available at the Richmond Community Kitchen.
(Hours: M, Tu, Th, F 10-4; Wed 10-6).
Or, contact radiate.art.space@gmail.com to arrange a pick up or a mail delivery.
Thanks to an anonymous grant the price is just $10. Copies are limited — to reserve a copy email radiate.art.space@gmail.com
Radiate Art Space and the Richmond Climate Action Committee are pleased to announce the publication of a catalog of the community Climate Art exhibit at the Richmond Free Library. The catalog, What Will Suffice: Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis, includes fine color photographs of the artwork in the exhibit, as well as a foreword from Bill McKibben and introduction by Alexis Lathem.
The format is 8.5” x 11”, forty page soft-cover book printed on recycled paper by a company that makes sustainability a priority. Thanks to an anonymous grant the price is just $10.
See https://www.radiateartspace.org/
To reserve/purchase a copy: https://www.radiateartspace.org/new-page-4
Mission Statement
The Richmond Climate Action Committee is a citizen committee dedicated to reducing our town’s contribution to the climate crisis, while building a just, resilient, and sustainable community through local action.
Mission Challenge
The global challenge is clearly laid out by the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2021 Report here. The Report has been called “a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable”. Future actions will determine how the world’s seven billion people will survive on a hotter planet and whether these actions will prevent far worse storms, floods, extinctions and wildfires.
Everyone must do their part, but rich countries and rich people’s lifestyles have been and still are the most polluting, so equity demands that they carry the greater burden of combating the climate catastrophe – the disadvantaged can only do so much. All the world’s countries must work together to severely limit greenhouse gas emissions. The affluent countries have benefited by far the most from burning fossil fuels, so those countries with large populations and highly polluting lifestyles (such as the US) are being called on to help the less affluent countries develop their economies in a sustainable way. And the same principle will have to be applied to inequity within countries.
Richmond Climate Action Committee works at the local level, in our Town and at County and State levels. We recognize that individual actions are important, though often only possible if towns and states enable them though incentives, ordinances and regulations, and by providing grants and services such as public transport. The challenges cover all aspects of our lives – transportation, home heating, diet and agriculture, consumption and recycling
- Our recent actions have included:
- An art show at the library, soon to appear as a book;
- informational and inspirational postings to Front Porch Forum;
- Active involvement in Town Committees and engaging with our representatives;
- Tours of local ‘green’ homes;
- Pushing for sidewalks and bike lanes and non-motorized travel to the Park and Ride and other transportation opportunities;
- Promoting battery-powered vehicles and bikes, equipment for lawn and yard care; obtaining funding for a charging station at the Town Center and helping Richmond Police Dept to purchase an electric cruiser.
Join us and Contact us!
At present we meet ‘online’ each month on the third Thursday of each month to plan our activities. Contact us here
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RCANVT/
Active Members include:
Jeff Forward (Town Energy Coordinator), Betsy Hardy, Chris Granda, Gary Beckwith, Ian Stokes, Fran Pomerantz, Steve Bower, Virginia Clarke, Judy Bush, Alexis Lathem, Allen Knowles (Liaison with Transportation Committee), Ariana Matthews-Salzman.